German Chancellor Friedrich Merz last week said he is in favor of the EU essentially stealing $164 billion in frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s war and argued in an op-ed for the Financial Times that there needs to be a “new impetus to change Russia’s calculations.”
The European Union announced last week that it will implement new sanctions against Russia that target its energy sector, which is seen as the main driver of Moscow’s war funding.
Investments in European companies that focus on military technologies have seen a significant acceleration since the start of the Ukraine War as countries turn to surveillance and drone warfare to counter what they see as a looming threat from Russia.
Ukraine informed the Trump administration that it will use European money to buy $100 million in American-made weapons in return for security guarantees if there is ever a peace deal with Russia, according to a report last week.
U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social late Sunday what seemed to be an effort to set the tone for his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on Monday, stating that Crimea and NATO membership are essentially done deals.
Days before President Donald Trump was to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, the U.S. leader announced that Moscow would face “very severe consequences” if there was no progress made during their meeting.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week that he plans to meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Friday in Alaska to talk about ending the Ukraine War, but major hurdles remain as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Europeans say they’re unwilling to part with land.
U.S. President Donald Trump is attempting to hurt Russia by sanctioning one of its best trade partners to get Moscow to end its war in Ukraine.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s national security council, and Sen. Lindsey Graham exchanged messages on X Tuesday in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to shorten Russia’s deadline to end the war to 10-12 days before Washington increases its support for Ukraine with weapons packages and secondary sanctions on countries that trade with Russia.
On 28 July, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation knocked two points off its policy interest rate, lowering it to 18 percent. The cut is the largest since May 2022 when the country was coping with the imposition of Western sanctions related to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.